The Writings of Bret Harte :: :: University of Virginia Library

The Writings of Bret Harte

standard library edition

Harte, Bret (1836-1902)

12.

POEMS

I. NATIONAL

II. SPANISH IDYLS AND LEGENDS

20.

STORIES AND POEMS AND OTHER UNCOLLECTED WRITINGS BY BRET HARTE

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333

THE FIRST BROOM RANGER

AN OLD STORY WITH A NEW MORAL

Once upon the Cornish strand
Rose a tide so vast and brimming,
That it overflowed the land,
And the hamlet set a-swimming.

Every cellar was submerged,
Yet the tide kept slowly swelling
Till the waters broke and surged
O'er the threshold of each dwelling.

Then it was an ancient crone
(True to what tradition taught her)
Seized her broom, and, all alone,
Set to sweeping out the water.

Through that ancient female's room
Rolled the mighty ocean past her—
Still the old girl with her broom
Only worked and swept the faster.

When the people gathered round
And in fear and terror sought her,
All of that poor dame they found
Was her BROOM upon the water.

Only with her latest breath
Had she ceased her work gigantic:
Fairly, squarely met her death,
Sweeping out the vast Atlantic.

[Part of the George B. McClellan torchlight procession in San Francisco, October 11, 1864, consisted of nearly a thousand men carrying brooms, called “Broom Rangers.” They were sympathizers with McClellan in his campaign for President against Abraham Lincoln.]